Wrexham’s Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney weren’t always so sure on football’s intricacies – at least the English variant – event after purchasing the Welsh club
Ryan Reynolds had to ask Paul Mullin a football question
Ryan Reynolds had to ask Paul Mullin a football question.
Ryan Reynolds had to ask what a yellow card meant when attending his very first Wrexham game.
The Deadpool actor and Hollywood friend Rob McElhenney took over the club in February 2021 – but didn’t know too much about the sport they were investing into. The pair have always been quite open about their lack of knowledge, as evidenced in the Disney+ documentary ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ – but now it’s been revealed just how clueless they were.
Watching his first Wrexham game in the stands next to an injured Paul Mullin in October 2021, when a yellow card was presented, Reynolds asked if that meant the player had to leave the pitch. Mullin has recalled the story in his autobiography ‘My Wrexham Story’.
He wrote: “At that first meeting on the pitch they told me that they wanted me to watch the Torquay game alongside them. Sitting up on that little balcony in the stand was the first time I’d spent any real time with them, which was quite cool to be fair. Funny too.
“When the referee produced a yellow card, Ryan asked me, ‘Does that mean they have to go off the pitch?’ But remember, that was only the second time he’d seen live football. In fact, when you look at those early episodes of the documentary there are plenty of times when Rob and Ryan were more than happy to show they were far from expert when it came to this sport they’d so heavily invested in. I’m not sure everyone would do that.
“Maybe some people would be a bit precious about that sort of thing. Not Rob and Ryan. They’re real, and they wanted everyone to see that. Now, two years on, they are the experts. They can tell me details about our games that I didn’t even know myself, statistics I never even knew existed. They’re not passive. They really do take it all in. They totally get football and absolutely love it.”
Reynolds and McElhenney have certainly grown to understand the game since then and were part of a thrilling title race against Notts County last year. Wrexham won the National League, ending a 15-year wait to the Football League.
They are now competing in League Two and sit in second, five points below Stockport. Reynolds and McElhenney would be thrilled with back-to-back promotions given the investment they’ve put in. The Hollywood owners recently opened up about just how much money they have lost.
“Let’s talk about how much money we’re losing,” said McElhenney in an episode of Welcome to Wrexham. Reynolds then asked Wrexham Advisor to the Board Shaun Harvey just how much they lost, to which he relpied $12m. “I’m going to go throw up,” he responded.
